Research shows consumers will pay up to 10 per cent more for sustainable products, but only when they trust the environmental claims behind them. The recent launch of McDonald’s collectible holiday cups highlights one of the biggest challenges faced by corporate sustainability efforts – the rift between good intentions and measurable impact. While distributing reusable cups is a positive step toward addressing the problem of disposable cup waste, most such initiatives stop at distribution, which means they miss the opportunity to drive actual reuse. Even well-intentioned sustainability programmes can fail to deliver measurable environmental impact or behavioural change if there are no systems in place to track, verify, and incentivise ongoing reuse.
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After the European Commission’s screening found that 42 per cent of sustainability claims were potentially false or deceptive, consumers increasingly demand more than symbolic gestures. A study from PwC shows that consumers are willing to pay a 9.7 per cent sustainability premium, even as cost of living and inflation rise. Another report from KPMG underscores this shift, finding that over half of consumers are ready to boycott brands engaging in greenwashing – emphasising that consumers not only value sustainability but also expect transparency and meaningful results for their investment.
With new regulations like the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority’s anti-greenwashing rule, making unsubstantiated environmental claims won’t just damage consumer trust – it could bring legal consequences. Sustainability isn’t just a moral imperative for brands. It is a competitive advantage in a market increasingly defined by eco-conscious consumers and unforgiving regulators. Being genuinely sustainable helps brands foster trust in an era where scepticism runs high; glossy green logos or vague promises no longer sway consumers. Instead, they reward transparency and tangible impact with loyalty and a willingness to pay more.
With only 29 per cent of Globescan’s surveyed respondents reporting that they trust product messaging assertions as being “natural”, it is clear that consumers are no longer satisfied with vague promises about “going green” or simple initiatives like distributing reusable products. They want verification that their sustainable choices actually make a difference.
Businesses draw the wrong conclusion by believing the challenge is a lack of consumer interest. Research shows that while only 16 per cent of consumers currently prioritise sustainability in purchases, a much larger segment would make sustainable choices if products delivered clear, tangible benefits: 72 per cent of consumers would like more information on how companies are making their products better for the environment. The missing piece isn’t motivation – it is measurement and rewards.
Historically, measuring environmental impact has been prohibitively expensive. Traditional certification and verification processes require significant investment in third-party audits, consultants, and ongoing compliance monitoring. This cost barrier has effectively created a sustainability gap, where it becomes economically unfeasible to track and reward individual contributions to sustainability and it leaves everyday people feeling disconnected from environmental efforts. Unless sustainability is a solid business decision, environmentally sound decisions are off the table.
But technology is fundamentally changing this equation. Through innovations in digital verification, advances in blockchain, near-field communication (NFC), and digital tracking systems, we can now validate environmental impacts at scale and transform how we measure and reward sustainable behavior.
Sustainability initiatives succeed when businesses can prove their impact on consumers. Brands like REI and Patagonia have made these initiatives core to their branding, and Starbucks’s use of digital tracking led to a 150-per-cent increase in reusable cup usage.
Blockchain technology can play a pivotal role in advancing sustainability tracking by ensuring transparency, accuracy, and verifiability in environmental claims. For instance, integrating tracking capabilities into reusable cup programmes can transform them from a baseline sustainability effort into a dynamic system that actively encourages and rewards sustainable choices. Trials of smart reusable cups equipped with embedded tracking technology have shown promising results, with participants collectively logging thousands of uses and significantly reducing plastic waste and carbon emissions. This approach highlights how pairing innovation with accountability can amplify the impact of everyday sustainable actions, moving beyond symbolic gestures to measurable progress.
Studies show that incentives can be an effective way to motivate people to make more sustainable choices. The psychology of sustainable behavior presents another dimension. Another aspect of the success of sustainability initiatives comes from when they combine immediate rewards with impact measurement, creating a virtuous cycle of engagement. This can translate into gamification initiatives, branded impact campaigns, or monetary rewards. Just as gaming and social media platforms have mastered the art of engagement and behavioral incentives beyond pure financial rewards, sustainability programs can leverage achievement systems, social recognition, and targeted benefits to drive engagement.
We face the challenge of shifting mindsets – helping markets understand value beyond traditional financial metrics to incorporate environmental and social impact. To achieve this shift, we need new standards, mechanisms, and metrics that account for sustainable actions alongside profits. We need standardised ways to record the carbon impact of individual consumer choices on immutable digital ledgers. We need mechanisms like digital product passports that can track items through their entire lifecycle. And we need metrics that capture not just environmental impact but also social value creation, creating what might be called a sustainability score that combines multiple factors like emissions reduced, resources conserved, and community benefits generated.
The urgency of climate change demands immediate action. The future of climate action requires us to empower millions of people to make better choices every day. By leveraging technology as a bridge between intention and impact, we can scale individual actions into collective progress, and businesses can transform sceptical consumers into engaged participants in their sustainability journey while staying ahead of regulatory requirements. The business case is clear: it’s about creating competitive advantage through verified environmental leadership.
For forward-thinking brands, verified sustainability isn’t just about avoiding greenwashing claims – it’s an opportunity to build lasting trust and leadership in an increasingly eco-conscious market. There simply isn’t enough time to wait for policy changes or rely solely on corporate initiatives – we must act now. We need to start leveraging technology to make sustainability both personally rewarding and globally impactful.
Sunny Lu is the founder and chief executive officer of blockchain technology company VeChain. He is a strong advocate of Web3 adoption and tokenisation initiatives. He was previously chief information officer of Louis Vuitton China and has also served as chief technology officer at Fortune 500 companies.
